Inigo San Gil (McMurdo/LTER Network Office, LNO) and Marshall White (LNO) attended the recent DrupalCon meeting in Denver, CO, March 19-23, 2012. DrupalCon is a biannual meeting that brings together 3000-plus users of arguably the most powerful content management system today, Drupal. Drupal powers many of the services at LNO, and many sites within the LTER Network, as well as a couple of million sites in the internet ecosystem. Indeed, a visit to the Denver 2012 DrupalCon website (denver2012.drupal.org) and the LTER 2012 All Scientists Meeting website (asm2012.lternet.edu) reveal some striking similarities in look and feel.
The theme of this year’s meeting was "Mobile first", but my impression was that the sub-themes "Strong Community" and "Rapid Development" were equally significant.
- Vibrant young innovative energy: This would be the winning take home message -- Drupal unites a large, energetic, and passionate “can-do” community.
- High speed development: The Drupal community moves fast. Very fast. Drupal anticipates impending changes in the accelerated world of information technology. No five year plans.
- Mobile: Yes, you may be surprised, but people are increasingly favoring mobile devices over desktops and laptops, even for the unthinkable. The mobile revolution is already in full swing, and we have to ask ourselves whether we want to stay in wonderland or not. Can I argue this further? Probably, but let me point you to a video that makes that argument much more enjoyable: Keynote - Luke Wroblewski.
You may also want to watch Dries Buytayert keynote address, or any of the wonderful presentations at the Denver meeting at denver2012.drupal.org.
The 2013 DrupalCon is scheduled for Portland, OR (see portland2013.drupal.org)